Enjoy The 2023 All-Star Game Because MLB Plans To Tear Apart Its Fabric

Major League Baseball doesn’t do a lot of things right, but their All-Star Game is far above those of the other professional sports. This year’s game may be a bit diminished because of injuries to superstars like Mike Trout, Aaron Judge and Clayton Kershaw, but nine innings between the best the American and National League has to offer outstrips the NFL, NBA and NHL by wide miles.

The NFL likes to glorify everything it does—witness the three-day extravaganza that the draft has become. However, the league is embarrassed by the Pro Bowl and has turned it into a touch football game. The NBA presents a game that is devoid of defense and has transformed its showcase into a schoolyard game that pits Team Giannis against Team LeBron. The NHL tries to make its 3-on-3 regular-season overtime format into some kind of All-Star extravaganza, but it is largely a snore-fest.

Some MLB stars may be happy to miss the All-Star Game, but those that show up in Seattle on Tuesday night want to show off their skills and win the 9-inning game. It is legitimate entertainment, and the way the game is played now is not a lot different from the Willie Mays played the game in the 1950s and ‘60s, Pete Rose in the ‘70s, Fred Lynn in the ‘80s and Ken Griffey Jr. in the ‘90s.

The advice from this corner is to enjoy the All-Star Game while you can because Major League Baseball has a long-term plan to change the basics of the American League vs. National League setup that has been the lifeblood of the sport since the first World Series in 1903.

We’re not just talking about changing the format of the All-Star Game, but the entire fabric of the game. Commissioner Rob Manfred would like to deliver a Radical Realignment of the sport that would make it more of a geographically based competition instead of having two leagues with their own identities.

Manfred’s long-term plan was spelled out in a column by former Major League executive Jim Bowden in The Athletic, because he tends to carry water for the commissioner. Overall, it is a brutal idea that is based on saving travel money for the member clubs and would destroy established rivalries. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants would no longer be in the same division, and neither would the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles.

However, the Mets and Yankees would be division rivals, and Manfred believes that these changes would be good for fans. It would be a disaster.

The only good thing about this plan is that it is at least a few years from being implemented. It is predicated on the moves of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas and a new stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays.

As soon as these two events happen, expansion from 30 to 32 teams will follow with teams in Charlotte, North Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee. Expansion actually makes sense, because having two 16-team leagues is more viable than two 15-team leagues.

Charlotte is clearly worthy of a Major League Baseball team, as the NFL Panthers, NBA Hornets and the NHL Hurricanes are all thriving. Nashville has also been successful with the NFL Titans and NHL Predators.

Charlotte and the state of North Carolina has the association with gambling that Major League Baseball has married in recent years. Once an expansion team is located in Charlotte, North Carolina residents will be able to wager their hard-earned money on or against their new favorite team.

But that team will not play in the American League or the National League. Instead, it will be in the Eastern Conference.

The setup that baseball has enjoyed so much for well over a century is in its final stages if Manfred has his way. The idea of scrapping the American League and National League apparently comes from viewing the NBA setup and Manfred’s belief is that it’s better for baseball because it will save travel dollars.

The day when the best players in the Eastern Conference meet Western Conference All-Stars will be a day to forget. The All-Star Game will be ruined and so will the fabric of the sport of baseball. Manfred’s folly must be short-circuited.